Couponing a complicated issue

Such was the case with last Monday’s piece on “extreme couponer” Rudy Randall.

No, Randall is OK. And the piece accomplished what I wanted it to accomplish: It was a fun peek into the world of the hard-core couponer.

But where it hurt was in giving exposure to a couponing practice and a television show that are harmful.

To get the hundreds of coupons to buy all those bottles of BBQ sauces (as Randall did in her appearance on the TLC TV show “Extreme Couponing”) and all those dog collars (as she talked about in the column) is to use a coupon clipping service. These operations sell coupons to subscribers, and while not technically illegal, redeeming them is as buying and selling of coupons voids the coupons.

The other way to get those many coupons is to steal the circulars that go into newspapers, and that is illegal. Nothing burns me more than to be at a convenience store and see somebody buy a paper from a box and take multiple copies (I’ve confronted people on this on multiple occasions and have nearly come to blows over it). I’ve also gotten after couponers who stopped to steal newspapers out of friends’ and neighbors’ yards.

As for the TV show, many stores have a policy on the use of coupons and doubling. You can only use so many per transaction and many have a cap on the number of transactions per day. The stores will bend the rules for the TV show but when others try to do the same thing they are denied.

Basically, anything that remotely advocates for Randall’s practices or for TLC’s “Extreme Couponing” is wrong. For those who read the column for anything other than entertainment and are looking to apply anything they learned from it, they would do well to look into other couponing and shopping resources. Two good ones are Jill Cataldo (jillcataldo.com) and our very own Savannah Savvy Shopper Michelle Rubrecht (www.savannahnow.com/savvyshopper).

A better story than Randall’s would have been to feature a local couple who got into couponing and put aside all the money they saved to pay off debt. The Savvy Shopper will feature a testimonial from them this weekend.

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I can't wait until I see you at a gas station. I will take multiple copies of a paper just to test what you have written. I will give you a couple of free shots, just so you'll have something to boast about in your next article.